Bio:
Caigui Jiang is a Ph.D candidate in Visual Computing Center of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), under the supervision of Prof. Helmut Pottmann. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU) in 2008 and 2011 respectively. His research at KAUST majorly focused on architectural geometry, especially, the rationalization of complex architectural structures and patterns.

Abstract:
Compared with conventional box-like buildings, freeform architecture has a higher construction cost because of the varying geometry of its discretized elements. Our research seeks to obtain a balance between the requirement of freeform shape and a reasonable fabrication cost. This goal could be achieved by some rationalization process such as requiring nodes to be torsion-free, beams and panels to be planar. The difficulty of rationalization may even increase when other constraints such as special functionality, aesthetic need to be considered simultaneously. In this talk, I will discuss the geometry rationalization for freeform architecture by some structures and patterns addressed in my recent projects: (1) shading and lighting system by torsion-free structures based on quad meshes; (2) freeform honeycomb structures by congruent nodes based on hex-dominant meshes; (3) polyhedral patterns with regular and semi-regular meshes.